Environment-induced epigenetics are involved in diapause regulation, but the molecular mechanism that epigenetically couples nutrient metabolism to diapause regulation remains unclear. In this study, we paid special attention to the significant differences in the level of N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) of dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase (DHAPAT) and phosphatidate phosphatase (PAP) genes in the lipid metabolism pathway of the bivoltine silkworm (Bombyx mori) strain Qiufeng developed from eggs incubated at a normal temperature (QFHT, diapause egg producer) compared to those from eggs incubated at a low temperature (QFLT, non-diapause egg producer). We knocked down DHAPAT in the pupal stage of the QFLT group, resulting in the non-diapause destined eggs becoming diapausing eggs. In the PAP knockdown group, the colour of the non-diapause destined eggs changed from light yellow to pink 3 days after oviposition, but they hatched as normal. Moreover, we validated that YTHDF3 binds to m6A-modified DHAPAT and PAP mRNAs to promote their stability and translation. These results suggest that RNA m6A methylation participates in the diapause regulation of silkworm by changing the expression levels of DHAPAT and PAP and reveal that m6A epigenetic modification can be combined with a lipid metabolism signal pathway to participate in the regulation of insect diapause traits, which provides a clearer image for exploring the physiological basis of insect diapause.

We present the third data release from the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project. The release contains observations of 32 pulsars obtained using the 64-m Parkes ‘Murriyang’ radio telescope. The data span is up to 18 yr with a typical cadence of 3 weeks. This data release is formed by combining an updated version of our second data release with $\sim$3 yr of more recent data primarily obtained using an ultra-wide-bandwidth receiver system that operates between 704 and 4032 MHz. We provide calibrated pulse profiles, flux density dynamic spectra, pulse times of arrival, and initial pulsar timing models. We describe methods for processing such wide-bandwidth observations and compare this data release with our previous release.

We investigated the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients with tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, and those diagnosed with only TB in Sichuan, China. TB isolates were obtained from January 2018 to December 2020 and subjected to drug susceptibility testing (DST) to 11 anti-TB drugs and to GeneXpert MTB/RIF testing. The overall proportion of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) isolates was 32.1% (n = 10 946). HIV testing was not universally available for outpatient TB cases, only 29.5% (3227/10 946) cases had HIV testing results. The observed proportion of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) isolates was almost double than that of the national level, with approximately 1.5% and 0.1% of the isolates being extensively drug resistant and universally drug resistant, respectively. The proportions of resistant isolates were generally higher in 2018 and 2019 than in 2020. Furthermore, the sensitivities of GeneXpert during 2018–2020 demonstrated a downward trend (80.9, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 76.8–85.0; 80.2, 95% CI 76.4–84.1 and 75.4, 95% CI 70.7–80.2, respectively). Approximately 69.0% (7557/10 946) of the TB cases with DST results were subjected to GeneXpert detection. Overall, the DR-TB status and the use of GeneXpert in Sichuan have improved, but DR-TB challenges remain. HIV testing for all TB cases is recommended.

In this paper, we propose an effective method to compensate for the performance degradation of optically addressed spatial light modulators (OASLMs). The thermal deposition problem usually leads to the on-off ratio reduction of amplitude OASLM, so it is difficult to achieve better results in high-power laser systems. Through the analysis of the laser-induced temperature rise model and the liquid crystal layer voltage model, it is found that reducing the driving voltage of the liquid crystal light valve and increasing the driving current of the optical writing module can compensate for the decrease of on–off ratio caused by temperature rise. This is the result of effectively utilizing the photoconductive effect of Bi12SiO20 (BSO) crystal. The experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed method and increase the laser withstand power of amplitude-only OASLM by about a factor of 2.5.

Background: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common solid malignant pediatric brain neoplasm. Group 3 (G3) MB, particularly MYC amplified G3 MB, is the most aggressive subgroup with the highest frequency of children presenting with metastatic disease, and is associated with a poor prognosis. To further our understanding of the role of MSI1 in MYC amplified G3 MB, we performed an unbiased integrative analysis of eCLIP binding sites, with changes observed at the transcriptome, the translatome, and the proteome after shMSI1 inhibition. Methods: Primary human pediatric MBs, SU_MB002 and HD-MB03 were kind gifts from Dr. Yoon-Jae Cho (Harvard, MS) and Dr. Till Milde (Heidelberg) and cultured for in vitro and in vivo experiments. eCLIP, RNA-seq, Polysome-seq, and TMT-MS were completed as previously described. Results:MSI1 is overexpressed in G3 MB. shRNA Msi1 interference resulted in a reduction in tumour burden conferring a survival advantage to mice injected with shMSI1 G3MB cells. Robust ranked multiomic analysis (RRA) identified an unconventional gene set directly perturbed by MSI1 in G3 MB. Conclusions: Our robust unbiased integrative analysis revealed a distinct role for MSI1 in the maintenance of the stem cell state in G3 MB through post-transcriptional modification of multiple pathways including identification of unconventional targets such as HIPK1.

Different from developed countries, there is a paucity of research examining how the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets relate to lipids in less-developed ethnic minority regions (LEMR). A total of 83 081 participants from seven ethnic groups were retrieved from the baseline data of the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort study, which was conducted in less-developed Southwest China between May 2018 and September 2019. Multivariable linear regression models were then used to examine the associations of the DASH and alternative Mediterranean diet (AMED) scores, assessed by modified DASH score and AMED, as well as their components with total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, TAG and TC/HDL-cholesterol. The DASH scores were negatively associated with TC, HDL-cholesterol and TAG. Comparing the highest quintiles with the lowest DASH scores, TC decreased 0·0708 (95 % CI −0·0923, −0·0493) mmol/l, HDL-cholesterol decreased 0·0380 (95 % CI −0·0462, −0·0299) mmol/l and TAG decreased 0·0668 (95 % CI −0·0994, −0·0341) mmol/l. The AMED scores were negatively associated with TC, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol. Comparing the highest quintiles with the lowest AMED scores, TC decreased 0·0816 (95 % CI −0·1035, −0·0597) mmol/l, LDL-cholesterol decreased 0·0297 (95 % CI −0·0477, −0·0118) mmol/l and HDL-cholesterol decreased 0·0275 (95 % CI −0·0358, −0·0192) mmol/l. Although both the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet were negatively associated with blood lipids, those associations showed different patterns in LEMR, particularly for TAG and HDL-cholesterol.

Our present genetic data of Acanthocephala, especially the mitochondrial (mt) genomes, remains very limited. In the present study, the nearly complete mt genome sequences of Sphaerirostris lanceoides (Petrochenko, 1949) was sequenced and determined for the first time based on specimens collected from the Indian pond heron Ardeola grayii (Sykes) (Ciconiiformes: Ardeidae) in Pakistan. The mt genome of S. lanceoides is 13 478 bp in size and contains 36 genes, including 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs). Moreover, in order to clarify the phylogenetic relationship of the genera Centrorhynchus and Sphaerirostris, and to test the systematic position of S. lanceoides in the Centrorhynchidae, the phylogenetic analyses were performed using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods, based on concatenated nucleotide sequences of 12 PCGs, rRNAs and tRNAs. The phylogenetic results further confirmed the monophyly of the order Polymorphida and the paraphyly of the order Echinorhynchida in the class Palaeacanthocephala. Our results also challenged the validity of the genus Sphaerirostris (Polymorphida: Centrorhynchidae) and showed a sister relationship between S. lanceoides and S. picae (Rudolphi, 1819).

HIV-1 drug resistance can compromise the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART). A survey of pretreatment HIV-1 drug resistance (PDR) was conducted in Lincang Prefecture of Yunnan Province. From 372 people living with HIV/AIDS initiating ART for the first time during 2017–2018, 322 pol sequences were obtained, of which 11 HIV-1 strain types were detected. CRF08_BC (70.2%, 226/322) was the predominant strain, followed by URF strains (10.6%, 34/322). Drug resistance mutations (DRMs) were detected among 34.2% (110/322) of the participants. E138A/G/K/R (14.3%, 46/322) and V179E/D/T (13.7%, 47/322) were the predominant DRMs. Specifically, E138 mutations commonly occurred in CRF08_BC (19.9%, 45/226). Among the DRMs detected, some independently conferred resistance, such as K65R (1.6%, 5/322), Y188C/F/L (0.9%, 3/322), K103N (0.6%, 2/322) and G190A (0.3%, 1/322), which conferred high-level resistance. The prevalence of PDR was 7.5% (95% CI: 4.6–10.3%) and the prevalence of non-nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) resistance was 5.0% (95% CI: 2.6–7.4%), which is below the threshold (⩾10%) of initiating a public health response. In conclusion, HIV-1 genetic diversity and an overall moderate level of PDR prevalence were found in western Yunnan. PDR surveillance should be continually performed to decide whether a public health response to NNRTI resistance should be initiated.

Nano/mesoporous carbon was prepared from pine wood sawdust via the pretreatment of acid and hydrothermal process, followed by potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation. This study proposed the enhancement of activated carbon (AC) adsorption capacity by utilizing the vacant sites and phenomena of opposite charge attraction via multilayer adsorption of Cr(VI) ions and dyes with positive and negative charges. On the first layer, the maximum adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) ions, methylene blue (MB) molecules, and acid red 18 (AR18) molecules onto AC were found to be 7.91 mg/g, 476.19 mg/g, and 434.78 mg/g, respectively. For multiple adsorption, after Cr(VI) ions uptake saturation, the sequential adsorption of MB and AR18 on the second layer, the maximum adsorption capacity, reached 322.58 mg/g and 333.33 mg/g. After MB and AR18 uptake saturation, the maximum Cr(VI) adsorption capacity reached 2.92 mg/g and 4.39 mg/g.

Direct determination of barrier height (ΦBH) value between Ir and single crystal (001) hydrogen-terminated diamond with lightly boron doped has been performed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique. 70 nm Ir islands were formed on hydrogen-terminated diamond surface using anodic aluminum oxide. The ΦBH value for Ir/hydrogen-terminated diamond was −0.43 ± 0.14 eV, indicating that Ir was a suitable metal for ohmic contact with hydrogen-terminated diamond. The band diagram of Ir/hydrogen-terminated diamond was obtained. The experimental ΦBH was compared with the theoretical ΦBH in this work.

With the advancement of high-throughput sequencing technologies, the amount of available sequencing data is growing at a pace that has now begun to greatly challenge the data processing and storage capacities of modern computer systems. Removing redundancy from such data by clustering could be crucial for reducing memory, disk space and running time consumption. In addition, it also has good performance on reducing dataset noise in some analysis applications. In this study, we propose a high-performance short sequence classification algorithm (HSC) for next generation sequencing (NGS) data based on efficient hash function and text similarity. First, HSC converts all reads into k-mers, then it forms a unique k-mer set by merging the duplicated and reverse complementary elements. Second, all unique k-mers are stored in a hash table, where the k-mer string is stored in the key field, and the ID of the reads containing the k-mer are stored in the value field. Third, each hash unit is transformed into a short text consisting of reads. Fourth, texts that satisfy the similarity threshold are combined into a long text, the merge operation is executed iteratively until there is no text that satisfies the merge condition. Finally, the long text is transformed into a cluster consisting of reads. We tested HSC using five real datasets. The experimental results showed that HSC cluster 100 million short reads within 2 hours, and it has excellent performance in reducing memory consumption. Compared to existing methods, HSC is much faster than other tools, it can easily handle tens of millions of sequences. In addition, when HSC is used as a preprocessing tool to produce assembly data, the memory and time consumption of the assembler is greatly reduced. It can help the assembler to achieve better assemblies in terms of N50, NA50 and genome fraction.

The research reported in this Research Communication aimed to describe the influence of Toll-like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms on milk production traits in Chinese Holstein cows. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is an important member of the toll-like receptor gene family that is widely found in various organisms. Since TLR4 can identify molecular patterns from various pathogenic microorganisms and induce natural and acquired immunity, it plays an important role in disease resistance in dairy cows. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of TLR4 (c.−226 G > C and c.2021 C > T) that were previously found to be associated with health traits were genotyped using Sequenom MassARRAY (Sequenom Inc., San Diego, CA) for Chinese Holstein cows (n = 866). The associations between SNPs or their haplotypes and milk production traits and somatic cell count were analyzed by the generalized linear model procedure of Statistics Analysis System software (SAS). The c.−226 G > C and c.2021 C > T showed low linkage disequilibrium (r2 = 0·192). There was no association between these two SNPs and SCC, but significant effects were found for SNP c.−226 G > C on test-day milk yield, fat content, protein content, and total solid and milk urea nitrogen (P < 0·05), and SNP c.2021 C > T and the SNP haplotypes on test-day milk yield, fat content, protein content, lactose content and total solids (P < 0·05). The software MatInspector revealed that c.−226 G > C was located within several potential transcription factor binding sites, including transcription factor AP-2. The polymorphisms c.−226 G > C and c.2021 C > T had significant effects on the milk production for Chinese Holstein, and these SNP could be used for molecular marker-assisted selection of milk production.

Auto-alignment is a basic technique for high-power laser systems. Special techniques have been developed for laser systems because of their differing structures. This paper describes a new sensor for auto-alignment in a laser system, which can also serve as a reference in certain applications. The authors prove that all of the beam transfer information (position and pointing) can theoretically be monitored and recorded by the sensor. Furthermore, auto-alignment with a single lens sensor is demonstrated on a simple beam line, and the results indicate that effective auto-alignment is achieved.

Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs)/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nanocomposites were prepared by the cold compression moulding method. The effects of addition of HNTs (HNTs ‘filling’) on the performances of PTFE were explored using X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis which showed that HNTs were well dispersed in the PTFE matrix by means of physical mixing at lower contents of 2–5 wt.%; the introduction of HNTs into PTFE could improve the heat stability of the PTFE. Furthermore, the mechanical and tribological performances of the nanocomposites were measured to examine the filling effect. The tensile strength of the HNTs/PTFE nanocomposites at 2–5 wt.% HNTs content increased by ~3.5% while their wear rates decreased by 55–90% relative to pure PTFE, clear proof of the filling effect of HNTs with a high aspect ratio.

The Chinese Solar and Geophysical Data (CSGD) was first issued at the Beijing Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the headquarter of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences) in 1971, when China’s satellite-industry was booming. CSGD covers the observational data (observations of the sunspots, solar flares, solar radio bursts, ionospheric storm and geomagnetic storm) from a couple of domestic observatories and the forecast data. The compiler of CSGD still keeps the data exchange with other institutes worldwide. The type of the dataset includes texts, tables, figures and so on. Up to now, we have electronized all the historic archives, making them easily accessible to people who are interested in them.

Terminus fluctuation and area change in mountain glaciers in the middle Chinese Tien Shan over the past four decades are examined, based on Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Système Probatoire pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) highresolution visible (HRV) imagery, topographical maps and China Glacier Inventory data using Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote-sensing techniques. This study shows that the glaciers in the study area have undergone continuous recession between 1963 and 2000. Over the past 37 years the total glacier area decreased from 55 × 106 m2 to 48 × 106 m2 (a 13% decrease). The glaciers at low elevations decreased more rapidly than those at high elevations. Seven of the ten large valley glaciers in the study area retreated by at least 150 ± 49 m during this period. The average rate of recession for these glaciers was 4–8 m a−1. The recession rate between 1986 and 2000 was larger than between 1963 and 1986. The glacier changes in the study area were similar to those in the Ürümqi river basin in the northern Chinese Tien Shan. It is apparent that temperature rise over the past four decades has had a profound impact on these glaciers.